🔗 Gen Z Stare

🔗 Psychology 🔗 Anthropology 🔗 Sociology 🔗 Media

The Gen Z stare is a generally pejorative phrase coined by social media users to describe a "blank stare that members of younger generations give in situations where a verbal response would be more common" or appropriate. It most commonly occurs in customer service interactions in response to ostensibly simple questions about products, services, or signage in the establishment. Reflecting a generation gap, instead of responding to the customer, the generation Z cohort members have been described as "dumbfounded or disinterested" in these questions.

Kalhan Rosenblatt of NBC News says, "[w]hile there are several definitions for the stare, the most common meaning is a vacant expression a Gen Zer gives in response to a question. The stare occurs in classrooms, restaurants, at work and more settings." The term "Gen Z stare" garnered widespread coverage in the mainstream media in July 2025. The concept of the "Gen Z stare" was first explored in research conducted by Kaiden Jones, who proposed that while the stare shares some similarities with the nonverbal responses of both deadpan humor and stonewalling, it can signal social critique and a refusal to conform to social scripts.